what would you do if you had my hair?

[longtime]

need some advice, should i just shave it off? look into transplants? or do nothing and just hope for the best?

pics on my blog:


http://www.hairlosstalk.com/profiles/longtime/blog/137

 

[astros148]

your hair doesnt even look bad , why would you get a hair transplant or shave it? just stay on finasteride and see what happens

 

[Jack82]

big three!

 

[ali777]

Short and neat is usually the best haircut for a balding guy.

Your hair doesn't look that bad. There is a bit of thinning but if you get lucky, hairloss medication can maintain what you have or even improve a bit.

Don't go into transplants just yet. Try propecia and minoxidil before you even consider transplants.

 

[s.a.f]

Weep tears of joy.

 

[longtime]

thanks for your responses, I've been on the big 3 for about 4 years (minoxidil about 10) and had some success in the past, pretty much filled in the bald spot and stopped the thinning, but now you can see the bald spot is coming back and i've begun thinning again. it might be hard to tell the extent of the thinning in the pictures, my hair looks ok right after blow drying, but once i leave the house and get a little wind in my hair it goes down hill from there.
I agree that hair transplant probably is not the approach for me, don't think i could get the desired results.
I also know that I suffer from a combo of OCD and BDD so often i see things to be worse then they actually are, that being said i do believe the meds have started to lose there effectiveness and it might be time to just give up and shave it, but i really question my abilty to go through with that too.

 

[longtime]

thanks s.a.f you gave me a good laugh, guess your saying i might not be that bad off as i see myself?
it's funny how we sometimes lose perspective, I had much harder time dealing with my hairloss 10 years ago and now i would kill to have the hair i had back then. have a feeling i'll be saying the same thing about where i'm at today 10 years from now.

 

[WhatYouEgg]

at your age, i would imagine your hair loss has probably stabilized, no? don't men typically lose most of the hair they're going to lose between 18-35?

 

[longtime]

never heard that, where did you get that information from? even if that was the case which i don't think is right, would med that slow down the process blow that theory out of the water? would somone who started on finasteride at 18 then not lose "most of his hair until 55?

 

[WhatYouEgg]

http://www.baldingblog.com/2008/03/05/m ... abilizing/

"Hair loss occurs in spurts and it is in the 20s (pretty much from age 20-29) that men are most likely to see most of their hair loss. The drug Propecia (finasteride 1mg) works to slow or stop it and in your case it might continue the stabilization. You need to get your hair mapped out for miniaturization, which will tell you what may happen to you over the next few years, and then speak to your doctor about Propecia.

I have seen no negative reports related to what you mentioned after long term use of minoxidil, and I have seen many patients who have used it in excess of 10 years."

he's got a number of other posts that say something similar.. he says most nw6's and 7's are totally bald by the time they are 30.

you do have a point about the timing and the meds though, but I don't think it's that extreme, propecia isn't going to help an aggressive early balder keep his hair for 30 years.

 

[WhatYouEgg]

obviously I can't see your scalp but I could see a hair transplant as beneficial for you, at your age i can't see you going horseshoe if it hasn't happened already.

 

[longtime]

interesting read, i'd like to believe that is true and my hair is stabilized, but seeing my dad who add my age clearly was thinning (probably much more then me) but still had coverage and is now completely bald it think it's probably more of a case of yes i've already lost more then 50% of my hair but it's when you start losing that last 50% is when you start losing the coverage.
on the other hand, having a brother only a year older who just about completely bald, its quite clear that the meds have done quite a bit for me.

about mapping for miniaturization, i assume it's probably only hair transplant doctors who specialize in that, which concerns me a little, seems like they could easily try to mislead you with results for their benifit, is that just me? not sure that i would have be happy with getting an hair transplant, seems like what my desired results are vs what they could deliver would not match up.

I would like to find a good derm, mines is a horribly bitter bald man who seems really pissed off that he has to prescribe me propecia, anyone have any advice on how to find a derm that specializes in hairloss and may be openminded enough to save me a couple $$$ and prescribe me proscar or even consider dutasteride?

 

[longtime]

can anyone suggest a good place in the boston area and or all of new england?

 

[Doug Douglas]

Your hair looks pretty good to me. How old are you?

 

[longtime]

38, first notice i was receding at 17, hard to tell from the pics but my hairline is WAY back, other then that it's been a slow process and i'm just not happy where it at now and want o try to improve how i feel about it, I'm on all the meds i should be on (big 3 + topical spironolactone) so hair transplant or shave seems to be my only two options but feel like i would regret either, should try snake oil?

 

[Leon S Habsburg]

You're missing the first and most logical option: Carry on with the big 3, maybe add copper peptides. If you quit chances are you will lose all you have and be as bald as your brother. finasteride does not wear off, it continues to slow down male pattern baldness. It may have stopped it for 10 years, but now your male pattern baldness has continued, but propecia still work!

 

[longtime]

oh i have no plans on ever stopping the big 3, curious about copper peps but can't see a logical way to fit them into the regimine either?

 

[Fundi]

If you noticed it at 17, it's been VERY slow. You sure you didn't just get a mature hairline at 17?

If I have hair like that at 38 I'd be delighted.

 

[longtime]

yes, at 17 i'd probably classify it as a mature hairline (although i had no idea what that meant 20 years ago) but from the it has continued to crawl it's way back over the years. obviously it's been at a pretty slow pace but still something that has always bothered me. also having a brother only a year older getting noticeably thinner and always stressing about, oh sh*t is that where i'm going to be in a year was not a good thing.
I never really noticed the general thinning until much later, don't know if that's because my ocd only focused on the hairline or if it wasn't until later in life that i started to thin in the crown and vertex.
minoxidil, finasteride and nizoral have definetly had some positive results for me, i'm definetly years away to catching up to my brother in his hairloss so i guess i don't have much to complain about. I added topical spironolactone and hoping to thicken up the hairline just a little, i think i'd be content if i could just to that or possibly i'd just find something else to dwell on!

 

[on_a_plain]

i probably have your hair in next 2 years . look at my post
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=55711